Adjustable dress-form



(No Model) J. HALL. I ADJUSTABLE DRESS FORM.

Nd. 243,703. Patented July 5, 1881.

\A/ITNE55E5- INVENTEIR lij hwflay UNITED STATES PATENT QFFICE.

JOHN HALn oF WATERTOWN, MASSACHUSETTS;

ADJUSTABLE-DRESS-FORM.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 243,703, dated July 5, 1881. Application filed November 22, 1880. (No model.)

, To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN HALL, of Watertown, in the county of Middlesex and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Adjustable Dress-Forms, of which the following is a specification.

By means of my improvements, which are described in detail below, the adjustability of the form, especially at the neck-and shoulders, is greatly increased, and the dress-form is capable of being contracted into a very small space for shipping, &c.

In the accompanying drawings, in which similar letters of reference indicate like, parts, Figure 1 is an elevation of my improved dressform. Fig. 2 is an enlarged sectional view of a part of the waist portion. Fig. 3 is a plan of the shoulder-plates of one shoulder. Fig. 4 is a view of the collar-piece.

a is the standard, supported by the pedestal b. b b are the skirt-ribs, rendered expansible and contraetible by the stretchers c at the lower portion, which extend from the plates 0 upon the ribs to the sliding hub f, supported by the sliding rest g, whose position upon the standard is determined by a set-screw. Double stretchers h extend from similar plates, 0, secured to the upper portions of the skirt-ribs, to similar hubs, f, supported by blocks 9. Measuring-tapes b are applied to the skirtribs, and secured thereto in any convenient manner. Each of the stretchers 0 consists of two pieces of wire, one extending from the rib and the other from the hub upon the standard, and each pieceis provided with a loop, 0, at its unsecured end, which loop catches over the other wire, thus enabling them to slide by each other. (See Fig. 2.)

Upon one of each pair of wires forming a stretcher is a piece of metal sliding upon it, and usually in the form of a coil, d. This sliding coil, when midway between the two loops 0, allows the wires of the stretcher c to slide by each other, but when pushed near either loop holds them by friction. Thus the stretcher is locked in any desired position. These stretchers may be used in any part of the dressform.

7c is a spring encircling the standard between the two hnbsfof the double stretchers, near the tons m (see Fig. 4) lie in the slots 1 in the piece Z, thus rendering it adjustable as to size.

'n p are the shoulder-plates on each side. Each plate a is hinged by means of twolooped wires, n, to buttons 1 on the collar-piece, and the plates at p are connected and enabled to slide by each other, thus lengthening andshortening the shoulder by means of the looped wires r, as shown in Fig. 2, which wires catch in each other in manner similar to the wires of the stretchers c. A spring, .9, extends from platen under plate 1), and a pin, 8, extends upward from it through one of the perforations p in plate 1), thus preventing the plates from slipping. To lengthen or shorten the shoulder, press down the spring 8 and let its pin 8' fly into the proper hole. A scale upon plate p indicates the length. r

t t are the waist-ribs. With the exception of the two end ones on each side they all hang from the wires 1". The two end ones are hinged directly to the plates 1? p. These ribs tare provided with stretchers 0, arranged like the stretchers c on the skirt-ribs, and extend down below the upper end of the skirt-form. Each rib may be free at its lower end, or two ribs may be connected, as shown in Fig. 2, by looping the wires around each other, so that they can slide upon each other, if one is contracted more than the other.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a dress-form, the adjustable stretcher c, constructed as described, and consisting of two wires having loops 0 at their inner ends, each loop being caught upon the other wire, and one wire being provided with the coil (1,

or similar device, adapted to slide upon the wire, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

2. The combination of the shoulder-plate a, provided with the spring and pin 8 s, the plate 19, provided with perforations p and scale, and the Wires '1", arranged and constructed substantially as and for the purpose specified.

3. In combination with the shoulder-plates 5 n p and wires 1*, the Waist-ribs t, each of a set of two looping upon the other near the lower portion, and rendered adjustable, substantially as described.

4. In combination with the standard a and two hubs,f, the spring k, as and for the purpose set forth.

JOHN HALL.

Witnesses HENRY W. WILLIAMS, GEORGE V. MALLON. 

